Rumpelstiltskin's strangest deal
by orthankg1
Summary: Rumpelstiltskin has lived a long time and made many deals, but this is a story about one of his strangest deals and how it changed his life, and all began with a little 7 year-old girl named Belle.
1. Chapter 1: An unusual 7yr old

**I own nothing, all rights go to Disney for the Disney characters, and all rights go to whoever else owns the other characters I've mentioned.**

**Re-uploaded for errors.**

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Rumpelstiltskin has lived a very long time, and if you were to ask him about all the deals he made and what kind they were, he would say something like this.

"48% of my deals involve a person asking me for something along lines of I want children, I want money, and the way I get them these things is rather simple, I spin straw into gold, I then go to someone who's poor who wants riches, a trade them gold for one of their children; now usually these peasants have many children already and so they think ' I already have so many children in can't feed them, so if I give him one and then get gold for it, I can feed my family, and have one less mouth to feed'. I then go and trade the child to a royal or someone with riches, who wants a child but for some reason can't have one, they are usually more than willing to give me anything for the child, I usually take books of magic, useful information, and magical artifacts."

"The other 24% of my deals, involves people asking me to do something to someone else, usually involves them having something unfortunate happen to them, loss of life, possessions, or something else, and I take the same payment, books of magic, useful information, and magical artifacts."

"And the last 24% usually asks me for help in some area, and Knight will ask me to slay a Dragon (and let him take all the credit of course), or help them win a contest of some sort, or a Queen or Princess want a beauty potion or something to make them look younger so they can win "prince charming" sadly (for them) the potion never lasts long so they always have to come back into another one from me."

Now there are a few deals Rumpelstiltskin has made that do not fall under these three categories, but there was one that was entirely different; everything about this deal was different, the person who asked it, what it was, and the motivation behind it; and it all begins one day in the castle courtyard of the kingdom Avonlea.

"Sniff sniff." Rumpelstiltskin thought he heard someone crying, now tears meant sadness, and sadness could mean desperation, and desperation could always mean a good deal could be made. So he went to find out what it was, he found himself in a castle courtyard near a pond, and he saw a little girl, about seven or so, with long brown curls, yellow dress, and a little silver tiara; when Rumpelstiltskin got closer he thought _'it's been a slow day, so let's see what's going on, and if nothing else I can always get a good laugh, watching the spoiled princess run away in horror, screaming "mommy, mommy help if there's a horrible monster in the garden".'_

"What is the problem my child." Rumpelstiltskin said in his kindest and gentlest type of voice.

Now the Princess, who did not know that someone was there with her, was shocked to hear his voice, so after wiping her tears stood up so that she could address the person behind her properly; now when she saw him she did not scream, runaway, or even look taken aback, she just stood there, put her arms on her hips, and said in the way that most young children say things when they are talking to adults and attempting to seem like a "big boy" or "big girl" "You look funny."

Now the Rumpelstiltskin was taken aback by this _'a child, a young child, a young child who is no older than seven has just told me that I "look funny", I must be losing my edge'_.

The child then began to ask him a large number of questions, "Who are you, where do you come from, what are you here, why do you look so funny." And other things of that sort, after about two or three minutes the child had to take a breath, and Rumpelstiltskin had sit down, so he made a chair appear for him sit down in, which only led to the child gasping in astonishment and saying "how do you do that, can teach me, can I the chair."

Rumpelstiltskin thinking _'she's brave and curious, that's for sure, maybe if I give her a chair, she'll be quiet and I can figure out what it is she was crying about, and see if there's a deal to be made' _so with but a wave of his hand, he made a chair appear for the little girl to sit in. "So tell me my dear why are you crying, you were crying so loud, and so sadly, I could hear you all the way for my Castle that is a many miles away."

"Really." The girl said in astonishment. "You could hear from that far away, I hope I can interrupt you if you are doing something important, I don't like to be rude."

_'Princesses are rude and annoying, but this one is kind and courteous princess, or at least not a very rude one, and a very curious little girl, asking also to questions that are not about herself, now this is just plain weird.'_ "Oh don't worry my dear, it was a rather slow day anyway, but I would still like to know what it is that caused you to cry." Rumpelstiltskin said, astonished that he had tried to make the young princess feel better, _'what's happening to me, I'm trying to reassure her, I must be finally going insane; well, at least the rest of the way'_.

"I was crying cause I have no friends, the only people I have ever get to talk to is the servants, advisors, or one of those annoying Royal visitors or their kids."

"What annoying Royal visitors my dear?"

"The stuck up snotty princesses and princes, they all act like they own castle, even when a visiting, and they think I'm weird cause I like to read; so do the advisors, this one kid Gaston said that "girls shouldn't read, soon they get ideas, and thinking. That I should get my nose out of the books, and pay attention to more important things like him, and that I should come see all his hunting trophies". She then leaned in closer to Rumpelstiltskin, and using her finger, motion for him to come closer, and when he did, she put her hand up to his ear to whisper something, "and between you and me", she looked around to make sure no one else was there, "I think most of the hunting trophies he has aren't really his, he probably had a servant kill them for him, I don't think he's smart enough to hunt anything," and then stifling a giggle she said, "I think he's really a shaved monkey, but I think most other monkeys are smarter than him."

Now Rumpelstiltskin couldn't help but laugh at this, _'a shaved monkey, now that was good, I'll have to remember that one; and what interesting girl, she likes reading, which is something most rich young girls don't do, normally that's what else read to them or just play with their dolls and play dress-up; and she thinks that all the servants aren't her friends, which in my experience most princesses do; and she thinks the other royal visitors are snobby and rude'_, he then looked at her, and putting his hand next to her ear, he whispered "You might be right". And this time she giggled, "You're funny" was her response, _'now that's just weird, this girl actually seems to be enjoying my company, impossible, yep I've gone mad, completely and utterly mad'_. "So, you still haven't told me if there's anything you want done about that crying problem."

"What you mean."

"Well no one ever calls me, on purpose or not, without wanting something." And then he got an idea, he's not sure where he got it from, and if you would ask him he would say it was because he lost every ounce of sense he had when he offered this, "Tell you what, since you are so young, and so brave, I'm going to grant you a wish, you can have anything you want, anything, and I won't expect you to pay me anything in return_." 'Yep, you'll be just like all the other royal brats, wanting money, power, or more riches, or.'_

"I want two wishes." She said proudly.

"What." Rumpelstiltskin was very surprised at this, "you want two wishes" _'this young girl has some intelligence.'_

"Yep, you said I could have anything I want, and I want two wishes."

_'A seven-year-old outsmarted me, how will I ever live this down, I'll be ruined, disgraced, a seven-year-old, how could I have sunk so low'_, "Very well my dear what are they." _'She'll still no doubt ask for something stupid and material.'_

"I want my mommy to be better, and I want you to my friend." She said matter-of-factly.

_'Help, help, I'm going insane, I completely lost my mind, and so far gone I'm hearing things, and seeing things, I've known dozens of princesses and princes who've asked me to have their parents meet with an unfortunate fate; and no one, whether as the dark one or a coward has wanted to be my friend, ever, yep, the stress is getting to me, there's no way that's what she actually said.'_

"I want my mommy to be better, and I want you to my friend." She said again this time a little annoyed.

"I can easily make your mommy better, but are you sure you want to be my friend, are you sure you don't want something else; no one ever wants to do my friend, no one ever has, or will want to be my friend; everyone either hates me, or wants my power." _'Or thought I was a coward'_ "Are you sure that's what you want."

Now the Princess looked absolutely startled by this, "You've never had a friend neither, well that's just sad, I'm sorry." She said like it was her fault "Yes, I'll be your friend, forever and ever and ever, I'll be the bestest friend you ever had." She said while hugging herself. "Which I hope won't be too hard if you never had none before." She said smiling up at him.

'_what on earth and I gotten myself into'_ but then after looking around for a minute he thought, _'I'm in Avonlea, now this land is known for its great riches but not having a very big military, and has a great magical archive, but the best thing is that it is near where the ogres are, which means at this little girl will have many, many suitors coming to call upon her, all of them wanting to be married to her in order to get her vast wealth, while the king will be trying to find a kingdom with a large military in order to help protect its borders, meaning that she will have a large number of marriage contracts, all of which will contain information that could be useful in blackmailing the Royal families, I might get a good deal out this after all.'_

"Well then, how about I make you a deal, I'll be your friend and also your secret helper, I will be invisible to everyone but you, and all you have to do is think about me, and I'll know that you want me to come, I'll build to help you with things, like getting things off the top shelf, finding your lost toys, and a whole lot of other things, I'll even help you get a good husband."

"Really, how?"

"Well I have magic, which allows me to do lots and lots of things, but if you want this to happen, you have to agree to two things, 1; you can't tell anyone about me, I am your imaginary friend, you can call me the little green imp, or the magic man, or some other ridiculous name, but you can't call me by my real name or tell anyone that you know me."

"But I don't know your real name."

"Oh that's right you don't, my name is Rumpelstiltskin, now 2; you have to let me read all of the marriage contracts that your father gets."

"What a marriage contract."

"It's a contract that one king gives to another king when they want their children to marry, it talks about all sorts of little things, like how much the dowry would be, how many children there should be, how many boys, how many girls, how many years apart they should be, distribution of land, distribution of resources, and also a lot of other little things; now most of it is worthless information, but some of it, a very small some of it is extremely useful information that can be very useful."

"Why?"

"Because it's usually very embarrassing."

"Oh."

"So do we have a deal?" Rumpelstiltskin said putting his hand out for little girls shake.

"Sure." The little girl said shaking his hand, "oh by the way my name is Belle."

"Belle, now that is a lovely name, it means beauty doesn't it."

"Yep." And with that she stood up and gave him a big hug, "thanks for being my friend, now come on, let's go inside, I went to see my mom now that she's better."

Rumpelstiltskin is not used to being hugged, or even touched by a young child willingly, or at all for that matter, so he got up and went with her thinking _'well how bad can it be, this might even be a slightly pleasant amusement, or at least a very funny distraction for the next 23 or so years.'_

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Three days later after the Queen's sudden recovery from her illness, King, Queen, and Princess were sitting down to dinner when young Belle asked the most interesting question (with a small prompt from Rumpelstiltskin who is at the table with them, but invisible to all those but the Princess, and that it just so happened to be while the king was drinking his mead), "Daddy, can I look at the marriage contracts."

The King was quite shocked by this, and so he coughed up some of his mead, "What! Darling, why on earth would you want look at those, do you even know what those are."

"Yes daddy, those are contracts that one King sends to another when they want their kids to get married, and I want to know what the details are."

"But sweetie." The king said rather nervously. "Some things in those contracts are for adults to understand and you are far too young to start reading them, not that you really should be reading them, those are for the, ummm, the Royal Court, yes the Royal Court to look over and decide which one is the best." The king said thinking he had made a pretty good argument considering the circumstances.

Belle then got up from her seat, walked over and sat on her father's lap and said in that big girl type of way, "Daddy, if I'm going to marry somebody I want to know what it is I'm going to have to do to marry them, and because it's my husband I want to be able to help make the choice." She finished this by crossing her arms and scrunching up her nose and face to make her look all fearsome and angry, and then when the king wouldn't speak for a few seconds, she looked at him with puppy dog eyes and said in an adorable little kid voice, "Please daddy, please please please please pleeeeeeaaaaase."

"Oh all right, fine you can read the marriage contracts; but you have to wait until your 13 years old before you can read them, and they have a red band around them, you have to wait until your 15 years old."

"Promise."

"Promise."

"Cross your heart." Belle said in that adorable little kid way that can melt any parent's heart.

"Cross my heart." The king said to cross in his heart.

Belle jumped up, and clapping her hands happily, then ran over dessert tray, grab day cupcake and ran up to her room. When they no longer heard footsteps the King turned over to his Queen, "This is entirely your fault you know."

"My fault, how?!" The Queen asked, quite shocked at what he just said.

"If you would listen to me when I said that any girl we have should have my eyes and my type of curiosity this could've been avoided."

"And how do you figure that?"

"I'm curious about things like horses, and hunting, and war and things like that, while you are interested in documents and books; and because she had your eyes I was completely helpless when she used her puppy dog eyes on me to beg, if she had my eyes I might have stood chance, but with your eyes no way, I was doomed from beginning, so as you can see it's all your fault."

"Well dear, I guess if that's why it's my fault, I'm ok with it." The Queen said, smirking slightly.

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–Six years later plus a little bit –

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Between Rumpelstiltskin's first meeting with Belle and her 13th birthday, Rumpelstiltskin had to admit that he'd grown rather fond of his little friend, almost to the point of where he felt like some sort of second father to her, her own father had grown slightly distant and more depressed (and slightly more fond of alcohol) after the Queen's death; she was killed in a freak hunting accident, which left her husband quite depressed, and Belle spent days crying in her room, with only Rumpelstiltskin to comfort her; one of the things Rumpelstiltskin admired most in the girl, was that unlike most people (especially spoiled brats princesses, which she was not) she'd not blamed him for being unable to save her mother, and accepted that there was nothing he could've possibly have done to prevent such a tragedy, it was then I think that he first began to see the girl as a friend, and even someone that he could trust, and as someone that could trust him, they spent many days together, having tea parties, playing "save the kingdom", and he would often entertain her with magic tricks; one of their all-time favorite past times was when he would go in scares the other princesses and princes by making shadows dance on the walls, making books float up, and making Belle fly through the air; yes, all in all they had a wonderful time being around one another, each one beginning to wonder what the other would do without them.

It was on Belle 13th birthday when her father finally fulfilled his promise of giving her the marriage contracts for her to read and look over, he might not have it wasn't for the fact that Belle had a very good memory and the fact that she could use her puppy dog eyes on him reminded him so much of his now dearly departed wife. After the party, which in Belle's opinion was rather boring, although the cake was wonderful, went up to her room and found Rumpelstiltskin reading through some of the contracts.

"Some of these contracts are absolutely crazy, some are just plain rude, and some seem reasonable, although I'm thinking that most of the really embarrassing information on the contracts your father didn't give you."

"Tell me about some of the reasonable ones."

"While there is this one Prince, Prince Ivan, he's from a very cold area though, he has two older brothers, their father told them to shoot an arrow into the air wherever it landed would be in the direction that they could find their wife, while the two older brothers found their arrows on the land of a wealthy merchant, who just happened to have two beautiful daughters, his landed in a swamp near frog, poor fellow."

"Yes I suppose it could be a small problem, being married to a frog that is."

"Then there is this Duke whose only request is that the wife be obedient and not care very much about his appearance."

"Why?"

"He's about 40 years old it seems, and while he is very generous there is one small problem."

"And what would that be?"

"It's rather funny; it appears that he was born with a blue beard, not very big beard, but a very short one and still very blue, apparently when the parents saw that they yelled out "Bluebeard", and so the priest who is rather old and hard of hearing, thought that was the name and so that's what he was christened as; it also appears that he's been married six times before, but all the brides have ended up disappearing no more than a year later, no one is sure what happened to them."

"I agree, I don't want to marry him, tell me that some of the weird requests."

"Ah here's one, the son of a young Count wishes to marry you, his name is Count Hannibal Lecter VIII, a very strange name don't you think, but he apparently prefers Dr. Hannibal Lecter as he apparently learned medicine while abroad, but he appears to be fine being called with either title or none all. It appears that his family was killed in a war a few years ago, and he is since been rendered mute, and is only recently returned to his castle after living with his aunt, whose a foreigner apparently, who helped him regain the ability to speak, he says he doesn't care about how many children he has, mistresses, or anything else like that, in fact his only request is that he have one blonde haired girl for a child, and that she be named Mischa. Now this is where it gets weird though, it also appears that a large number of war criminals were brutally killed while he was staying with his aunt learning to be a doctor, and the local sheriff suspected it was him, but there was no proof, and apparently no one wanted to convict him or whoever it was for killing war criminals."

"Yet he's creepy, I be afraid to not have my door locked at night; and if I shared a bed with him, I don't think I'd be able to sleep."

"Can't blame you there, he does seem rather creepy; oh, and here's one from King George requesting that you marry Prince James."_ 'That certainly won't do considering it would ruin my plans and that James will die orderly before he's will to fight the Dragon for Midas, and his twin brother will take his place'_. "I don't think you'd like him though, he apparently willing to bed any woman that's breathing."

"No, I don't think I would; besides I met him before, and he was mean and drunk."

"Will that is good." After a few moments of silence Rumpelstiltskin remembered something very important, "Belle."

"Yes, what is it?" She asked excitedly.

"I was wondering if you would like your birthday present now." And with that he pulled out a thin little book, with leather binding that was no bigger than 7 inches or so by about 4 inches, with only about 50 or so pages.

Now when Belle saw this she was rather upset thinking that it would only take her about five minutes to read through the whole thing,

Seeing her unhappiness Rumpelstiltskin explained, "That book is a press book, the way it works is you find an object and press the book against it, and then the book will fill up with all the information about that type of object." He then demonstrated by going and getting a rose from a vase on her dresser, and after opening the book to show it was blank, pressed the rose against the cover with a large circle on it, and after opening again, he showed her the book contains all sorts of facts about roses like, how tall roses can get, what colors there are, how many different types there are, when they bloom, and what kind of whether they liked.

"And if you press the rose on the other cover," he said while pressing the rose on the other cover which had a small circle on it, "it fills up with facts about that specific object." He then gave her the book, which had all sorts of facts about how old the rose was, when it bloomed, how much longer before it would wilt, and other little things like that. "So do you like it?"

Belles responded by jumping up and gave him a vice grip type hug around his neck, "Thank you, thank you, thank you, it's wonderful, it's one of the best gifts I think anyone's ever given me." She then went around touching the book to all sorts of objects learning also the little facts about them; Rumpelstiltskin decided to leave her to this, and go explore the Castle and see what the King was up to.

Castle was a very nice Castle, highly decorated, just right for a kingdom with such vast wealth, _'it is odd how the King can't just rent an army, or have one commission, I seen it done many times, honestly with all this money I don't see why he needs to have Belle marry in order to secure his kingdom safety.'_

After wandering around a bit, he came to the Council chambers, as he walked by he heard some people talking, "You're Majesty, we know that you love the Queen very much, and we understand that you are grieving for your loss, but it has been three years, and Belle that is of such a young age, do not think it might be wise to attempt to court another young lady to be your wife, if for no other reason so that Belle might have a mother figure to look up to."

When Rumpelstiltskin heard this he was bit torn_, 'I can think of several ladies who will be more than happy to marry the King, if for no other reason than his wealth, so this would be a golden opportunity to make a deal; but I would hate to cause Belle pain, she did love her mother more than anything, and I would hate to find anyone that would not love her and/or try to replace her mother.'_

He thought on this dilemma for a moment, but then he heard the King say "You are talking about replacing my wife, and Belle's mother; that's not like finding a replacement for a glove or a sword; I loved her, and so when I think I am ready to go and look for new wife I shall, and if Belle needs a mother figure, I'm sure we could hire a governess, not have me marry again."

_'Amazing, the man can think of a simple solution for getting his daughter a mother figure, but he's planning on having her marry some idiot in order to get an army to protect his land, some people just make no sense.'_

Rumpelstiltskin continued on to library, looking for some books for Belle, and maybe a magical book or two for him.

After getting back to her room, Rumpelstiltskin was verbally attacked by Belle; she rambled on and on about every single little fact about every single little object in the room_, 'what was I thinking giving her that book'_, "Yes Belle that's nice, how about you read some of these lovely books." After one or two more minutes of her continuing on about what kind of wood bedposts were made, and how old the sheep was that made the wool for her blankets, she finally sat down and started reading one of the books Rumpelstiltskin had brought. "By the way, some of the Councilman were telling your father that he should marry again," Belle looked at him quite shocked at this, and she looked very concerned as well, "they said that he should marry if for no other reason so you can have a mother figure; he told them that he would marry when the time was right, and not a moment sooner." Belle looks like she relaxed great deal after hearing that.

"Oh good, I don't want a stepmom, I mean I'm sure she couldn't be too bad, but I still really miss my mom."

"That's all right Belle, it's okay to miss your mom, and it's okay to not want someone to trying replacer her, it's okay if you never want someone to and replacer her."

"Thank you." And with that Belle walked over and gave him a big hug and a kiss on the cheek.

Rumpelstiltskin was so shocked by this that he jumped up teleported away to the Dark Castle, _'she kissed me, she kissed me, no one's kissed me since Cora, at least no one who knew it was me, and Cora had wanted to gain my love only so that she went have to give up Regina, but Belle did, Belle did kiss me, and willingly; I really need a drink.'_

Belle was equally shocked at her actions and at Rumpelstiltskin's reaction, _'why did I do that, I mean sure he's nice but why did kiss him, he probably ran away because he was so shocked that I did that'_ then Belle caught a bit scared, _'what if he doesn't comes back, oh I hope that doesn't happen, I don't think I could bear it, he is my only friend, and I would hate to make them feel awkward, I'm not even sure why did kiss him, although he is rather handsome, charming, and funny, and, **what in the name of sanity am I thinking**, you've known him since you were seven, and he's much too old for you, still he is rather good-looking, **oh stop it**; where does dad keep them mead.'_

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Unknown to Rumpelstiltskin and Belle, the King marrying again was not the only marriage the Royal Council wished to discuss.

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**I hope you like this story, please review, I was going to have this be only a One-Shot, but it got so long I thought I might as well chop it up into a few pieces. The next chapters will deal with many idiots the Council tries to have Belle marry, and how Belle and Rumpelstiltskin managed to outsmart all of them. (we hope)  
**

**Read and Review**


	2. Chapter 2: Betrothed and a Wager

**I own nothing, all rights go to Disney for the Disney characters, and all rights go to whoever else owns the other characters I've mentioned.**

******Re-uploaded for grammar errors and spelling errors.**

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"Your Highness, the Council has decided who it is that Belle shall marry." Said one of the Royal Councilman.

"Who?" The King said rather apprehensively, "I do not think that is a good idea that we name a husband just yet. I promised Belle that she would have some input on the decision, and it was only yesterday that I gave her the marriage contract to look over."

"Yes your highness, and we understand this, but the point stands that your daughter is now 13, and so it would be best to choose a husband now, so that she might be able to learn about him and the new country that she will inhabit, and so that she will be able to marry him when she is around 15 or 16 years of age." Said another Royal Councilman.

"Yes I suppose I do see your point, tell me who the man you've picked is?"

"She is to marry Prince Humperdinck, the heir to the throne of Florin."

"**What!** **He's an idiot! Have you even read his marriage contract! It was one of the most disgraceful things I've ever seen!**" The King yelled, then he grabbing up the document the counselor brought with them and began reading down the list of things he found offensive, "He wanted to be able to have **three** mistresses after **one **year of marriage or after child was conceived, I mean one mistress is okay, but three, and only after one year, **Hell No**!" The King said having forgotten all of his manners, "He wanted them to be in the rooms **next** to Belle's so that he wouldn't have to walk far, now that's just insult to injury! He expects Belle to where **provocative clothing** at important meetings, so that he might properly **show her off!**" And the list went on and on, after about two minutes the King had finished, and was bit obvious that he was less than pleased with the Royal Council's choice of husband.

"But Your Highness, do you not see there are some benefits to the offers well, his kingdom not only has a great military, but it also has quite a bit of wealth of its own, and the Prince himself while being an "idiot" as you put it, is a great military strategist. The contract also stated that while yes he would have many mistresses, and would be allowed to have a one night stand whenever he so chooses, that any children born from anyone that was not the Princess would have no claim to the throne unless the Princess was barren. In truth we thought of the Princess quite a bit," the adviser said attempting to appeal to the King's sense of reason, "for the contract also stated that the Princess would be able to spend her time as she chose unless the Prince wanted her to attempt to produce an heir to the throne, or be "shown off".

"Yes, but there's still the matter of all the mistresses he wants and the fact that I do not like the idea of my daughter being "shown off"." Said the King a little bit annoyed.

"Having many mistresses might be good thing, it means the Princess will be less burdened by her husband's wants and needs, and if she does not like him, he has many other options so to speak. And you must admit, your daughter does enjoy a few unusual hobbies, like reading, which is a pastime she enjoys very much, she also loves horseback riding, and getting to go out and garden; now while most Royal husbands would not approve of their wives doing things like reading and gardening, and many believe that a woman should ride in a carriage or sidesaddle, Prince Humperdinck says that she will be allowed to pursue her any hobbies she likes, and will have a large amount of free time. And who knows, maybe, just maybe they will learn to love one another, or at least be able to live with one another, and considering all of the facts, it could be quite possible that they will only have to spend a few moments in one another's company each day."

"Yes, I suppose I do see your point." The King said beginning to see some of the good points the Royal Councilman were making, "This could be a very good thing, it is a favorable match, at least as far as wealth and position are concerned, and if Belle does hate her husband, then by the terms of the agreement she shall not be expected to see him much, I mean it did say she only had to have three children or as many as possible in order to produce a son; and if she does find that she loves him so much the better."

"We knew you would see it our way you're Majesty." Said the Head Councilman. "Would you like us to send a servant to fetch Belle so that you might inform her of her coming marriage?"

"Yes I think I would, send for her immediately."

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Rumpelstiltskin and Belle had not spoken to each other since the night before, when she had kissed him on the cheek. Rumpelstiltskin at the time was spinning at his wheel, enjoying the calm quiet of the day, watching the wheel work. He was just beginning to wonder whether or not he should go and see Belle, if for no other reason to make sure she was all right after kissing a beast; when suddenly he heard his name being screamed by Belle as loud as she could (well perhaps screened is not the right word, more of thought as loud as she could). "What in all the realms is the matter?" Rumpelstiltskin asked, "I don't think in all of my life I've ever heard somebody think my name is loud as you did."

"**HOW COULD HE! HOW COULD HE!**" Belle said, not really paying attention to what Rumpelstiltskin had just asked.

Rumpelstiltskin grabbed Belle by the shoulder and sat her down in a chair he had magically had appear for her; "Now I need you to calm down, now I am many things, but a mind reader is not one of them. So I need you to calm down and tell me what the problem is, then I can help you fix it."

After Belle had calm down she began telling Rumpelstiltskin what the problem was, "I'm getting married."

For the first few seconds Rumpelstiltskin again began to think he was either going completely crazy, had started hearing things, or Belle had finally been so affected by him that she lost the ability to think clearly, "I'm sorry did you say you were getting **married**?!"

"Yes."

"Too whom?"

"Prince Humperdinck."

"What?" At the mention of the Prince's name, Rumpelstiltskin found himself in complete and utter shock, like he got hit by a bus (if they had buses). "Why would your father have you marry him, he's an idiot, I mean he brags about how he can track a falcon on a cloudy day, how on earth is that even important; and has your father even read the marriage contract, he basically only want you to be his wife so he can show you off as a trophy, otherwise he's basically only going to be sleeping with mistresses."

"Yes I know that, so why on earth would they choose him?"

After a few minutes of quiet consideration, reading over the marriage contract again, and using his ability to see into the past, Rumpelstiltskin finally figured out why they chose someone like Prince Humperdinck to be Belle's husband, "I think I might've figured it out. According to the contract, only children that he has with you are considered eligible to take the throne, any bastards will have no claim; also, while he expects to be able to show you off like a trophy when he has guests, he really expects nothing else from you except for three children, or at least one boy."

"So why would that make the Royal Council choose him, and why did my father approve of it?"

"If you follow their reasoning it's actually rather simple; you marry him, the kingdoms are aligned, both of them wealthy and his has a large military; also unlike with most marriage contracts, he will allow you to pursue any hobby you wish, as long as it does not include sleeping with other men, so you will be allowed to pursue things like reading, gardening, and things like that; and with so many mistresses, you will probably not be expected to perform any wifely duties very often."

"So basically I'm a trophy to be shown off whenever my husband wishes to, expect to produce a son to be his successor, otherwise I will have no point." After a few moments is thinking, Belle looked at Rumpelstiltskin and asked, "Is it a bad thing that I still feel very insulted by about it, that I will be nothing more than an object to be viewed for my husband's pleasure."

"No, it's perfectly fine if you feel insulted by the offer, the question is dearie," Rumpelstiltskin paused for dramatic effect, then scrunching up his face and taking on the voice he would use when a person was conflicted about it deal they were about to make, "what are you going to do about it." He said, pointing at her when he said "you".

* * *

Belle was told that she was going to meet her future husband at the ball held for Snow White's 13th birthday in three months. Now Belle had always loved Snow like a sister, an attachment that only grew when Snow came to comfort her when her mother had died, besides Rumpelstiltskin, Belle could honestly say that Snow White was probably her only friend, and definitely the only friend that everyone knew about. Now normally such an event would be very happy for both the girls, Belle would often come two weeks or even a month before the party was going to happen, so they could spend time with one another and catch up on all the little things that happened in their lives since last they saw each other, but with Belle's pending engagement, she was less than happy. After arriving at the Castle it didn't take long for Snow White or her mother to realize something was wrong.

Now the Queen had been like a mother to Belle since her own mother had died so when she realized Belle's unhappiness she became concerned. So when they were alone together after dinner on the second day of Belle's visit she asked, "Belle darling is something wrong, you haven't been your normal happy self the last two days?"

Belle looked up from her book at the Queen and then over to Snow White, when she saw her friend Bill realized that she was wondering the same thing. After a long pause and a sigh Belle said, "I suppose you have heard that I am engaged."

"Oh Belle that's wonderful," Snow White said very happy for her friends good fortune, but after looking at her friends sad face she realized Belle was not happy about this, "I'm guessing by the way you look it's not so wonderful for you."

"In a way it's a wonderful engagement, he's apparently charming and handsome, so any woman would be happy to have him for a husband. And according to the marriage contract I read, very little would be expected of me, all I need to do is produce an heir to the throne, and allow him to show me off to important guests like a trophy," Belle said not hiding her anger at that point of the contract, "otherwise I will basically be allowed to do whatever I want, go wherever I want, see whoever I want, and spend my times as I please, and because of the fact that he wants three mistresses, and to be allowed to have a one night stand with whoever he likes, if I don't like him I will not be pressured to do many wifely duties, so basically we will be two strangers living together."

"So why is that a problem?" The Queen asked, secretly thinking she already knew the answer.

"Because I want a husband who thinks of me as more than something then just a trophy, more than just something he can show off whenever he feels like it, and I deftly want him to think of me as more than just a way to get pleasure." Belle said sadly, slightly exasperated at the end, and then leaning in towards her two companions, Belle said in a whisper so quiet that you'd think she was afraid that if she said it any louder the hope of what she was saying would shatter because it was so delicate, "and I want to marry for love, not because of it being convenient, or the best offer available."

"And that is a very good reason to not want to marry this man, but the question you have to ask yourself is; are you going to fight for what you want, or are you going to just sit back and lose that dream you have." The Queen said looking quite serious at Belle. "Both options have their appeal, and I'm not to tell you which one is right or wrong, that's something only you can do, I'm just here to tell you that I'll support you no matter what you choose." After saying this Queen Eva got up and hugged Belle and then whispering in her ear she said, "And no matter what you choose, I will still be proud of you and Snow when I will always be your friends."

It wasn't until that moment that Belle realized that the Queen Eva was her friend, before this she had always seen her as the mother of her friend, maybe even a type of mother figure for her to look up to, but she had never seen her as a friend who she could trust to help her when she needed it. And so after the hug she looked up at her and said, "Thank you, thank you very much, you don't know how much I need to hear that." And then looking over at Snow White she gave her friend a hug, told her how lucky she was to have such a wonderful mother, and then ran upstairs to her room. When she got there she started thinking as hard as she could the name of her other friend. _'Rumpelstiltskin, Rumpelstiltskin, Rumpelstiltskin, I need your help'_. No sooner had the thought left her head then she heard the familiar laughter of her friend.

"And what does the Princess want with the little green imp?" Rumpelstiltskin asked, using one of the funny little names she had for her "imaginary" friend.

"I have decided that I'm not going to get married to Prince Humperdinck."

"Good and how shall it be done my dear, do you want some horrible fate to befall you're betrothed, or maybe you would like some hideous scandal to come to light, or perhaps something more creative." Rumpelstiltskin said looking like a young child with a new toy, and then looking at Belle he said in a very silly voice, "and then there is the most important detail, would you like it happened before or after the wedding, personally I think you'd make the most charming widow, although I'm not sure if black is a good color on you."

"I look good in black if you're wondering, but more importantly I don't care what you do, how you do it, or when you do it, I just don't want to get married to him, I don't want anyone to die, and it certainly has to happen before we go to bed to celebrate our wedding, if you want to you can come intervene during the middle of the wedding, just make sure my wedding night doesn't happen."

"You know Belle; if it was anyone else I would be licking my lips and doing a little dance in my head, because you are so desperate you would be willing to give me anything, are you willing to give me anything?"

"Yes. But luckily I won't have to because of the deal we made when I was seven."

"My dear Belle, who said that you wouldn't have to give me something? The deal I made with you was I would help you find a good husband by looking over the marriage contracts," he said putting an emphasis on the word "find"; "I never said I would prevent an unwanted marriage."

"Rum, are you using a loophole on me? How could you?"

"Belle, are you using that funny little pet name you have for me in an attempt to manipulate me? How could you? Also, I never said I wouldn't help you, I'm just pointing out that it doesn't necessarily have to be for free, and in this case I think I will take some small payment."

"What is it? And what would you do if I didn't give it to you?"

"I would probably still help you anyway, my payment is an answer to a question, well, two questions actually. What do you think of me? And why did you kiss me? Oh and you have to be completely honest when you answer me."

Belle was slightly shocked by this, of all the thing he could have asked, this was probably the most difficult thing she could give him. After a moment of hesitation she said, "I'm sorry Rumpelstiltskin, but I can't answer that." She said looking down at the floor, slightly ashamed of herself for denying his one request simple requests, and then looking up at him slightly she said, "At least not yet."

"You don't have to worry Belle; I will still help you, and you don't have to answer that question until you're ready."

* * *

- Three weeks later-

* * *

The guests had begun arriving for the party for the last day or so, they were Princesses and Princes, Kings and Queens, Dukes, Earls, Duchesses, Lords, and Knights. About five days before the celebration was to begin everyone had arrived. It was at around lunch time on that day, while sitting with Snow White and Queen Eva that Belle first met her betrothed.

"Princess Belle, me to introduce you to your future husband Prince Humperdinck." Said a Royal Harold.

When Belle saw Prince Humperdinck she had to agree that yes, he was handsome, and after spending a half an hour in his company she decided that he was also charming, being courteous to both her and her friends, the only problem was he was also at least 17 years older than her, something that she notice Queen Eva looked slightly distrust about, he was also stuck up, rude, arrogant, and very uninteresting, I mean really, who cares about the fact that you can track a falcon on a cloudy day, these were things that both Snow White and the Queen took notice of as well. But for some reason he was very proud of it, he also bragged about how large his army was, how much riches he had, and how honored she should be that he had chosen her. He then began to tell her about the misfortunes of his first marriage to a girl named Buttercup, how it only lasted a few hours before the poor girl was kidnapped by enemy soldiers from Guilder, and how after going to war against the people of Guilder, he searched for her but could not find her, and so giving her up for dead he went and decided it was best for him and his people that he should find a new bride, in this case, it was her. He then went on to say just how lucky she was at his decision. _'If he were any more conceited, they would have to give him a private ship for the transportation of his ego' _Belle thought to herself.

"Get him back on the subject of how good of a hunter he is." Rumpelstiltskin said behind her causing her jump.

Going for his sword, Humperdinck looked around quickly attempting to see what a cause Belle to jump, "My lady, are you all right, did you hear something."

_'How in the name of sanity is a guy as suspicious as this still able to function in society'_ Belle thought, "It is nothing sir, but tell me, you said that you could track a falcon on a cloudy day, must make you an excellent hunter, am I correct?" She said glancing over at her friends who looked quite astonished that she wanted him to repeat his long speech about what a great hunter he was.

"Why yes, it does, only an extremely proficient hunter could track a bird on a cloudy day, and Falcons are able to fly extremely high above the clouds making it even harder. I have been told that I'm in fact the greatest hunter in our kingdom, to be honest, I do not believe that they are correct on this point, I am probably one of the greatest hunters in all the realms, if not the greatest hunter" Humperdinck said.

"Tell him that you don't believe that to be true, that you know a Hunter who is probably much better than he is. And when he goes to defend himself, tell him that you doubt his abilities that you think you might be lying about them, and then challenge him to a hunting match against the hunter." Rumpelstiltskin said to Belle.

"That is interesting, but I believe you are wrong, I myself know a hunter who I believe to be much better than you." Belle said to Humperdinck trying not to seem smug.

"**Impossible**, no one is better than me, you are obviously mistaken." Herbert said offended at Belle's assumption.

"How do you know you are not mistaken? How do I know that you can track a falcon on a cloudy day, perhaps you exaggerate your abilities? Or even worse, maybe you are lying about your abilities completely, and in fact have never been able to do this?" Belle said, enjoying watching Humperdinck turn red, when she glanced over at Snow, her friend was obviously trying very hard not to laugh, she then said, "I have an idea, why not you attempt to beat my hunter in a match, the skies are normally very full the clouds this time a year, and correct Queen Eva."

During the conversation Queen Eva, who at first was very uncomfortable with the idea of having Humperdinck repeat his long story of what a great hunter he is, thought that she was beginning to see a plan formulating and Belle's head, she was quite sure that Belle had made up her mind that she not want to marry Humperdinck, and it somehow found a way, although she wasn't sure what it was to not have to marry him, and that this was part of her plan. "Yes, the skies are extremely cloudy this time of year; I doubt you would be able to track even a dragon."

"Does the King not have a supply of hunting Falcons?" Belle asked.

"Yes, we have many hunting Falcons, too many I think." The Queen answered.

"I propose a wager, it just so happens that the hunter is here, later I will go to him and ask him if you would like to participate in a hunting tournament against Humperdinck. The tournament will have seven falcons, one of which will have a gold ribbon with a small ball attached at the end tied around its foot, the other six will have a either a red ribbon or a blue ribbon tied around their foot with nothing attached at the end, three will have read, three will have blue. We will release the Falcons all the same time, the goal would be, to kill and retrieve the Falcons with the ribbon of your color tied around their foot, and returned with them before sundown."

"That sounds reasonable." said Humperdinck.

"But," Said Belle, "you must also try and track a falcon with the gold ribbon attached to it, that one you must bring back alive and unharmed, you will each compete against one another in the attempt to find him, whoever finds him first and returns to the Castle along with the other three birds, which you had to kill before you went hunting for the final falcon will be the winner."

"Well that sounds like fun, but tell me Belle, you said this would be a wager, what are we wagering." Humperdinck asked.

In truth everybody had wondered what the wage would be, especially Belle. "Tell him that if he wins, you will ask his father and yours if they could be married even sooner than was planned, but if the other hunter wins, he will owe you three wishes, which can be anything your heart desires, and if they are outside of his power to grant, that he would not be to rest until the wish is granted." Rumpelstiltskin told her.

"I'm not entirely sure but I have an idea what the wager should be, if you win, I will ask my father and your father that our marriage being moved to the soonest possible date, after all the only reason why it will take place in a few years is likely when I might get to know one another." Belle said.

"Very well, I will agree to that." Humperdinck said smiling, "But tell me if you're hunter wins, which I sincerely doubt, what is it you will want."

Pretending to think for a moment Belle said, "If I win you must grant me three wishes that I will ask for a time of my choosing, they can be anything I want, and if you are unable to grant them, you will not be allowed to rest and tell you have found a way to grant them."

"Those are considerable stakes," and in thinking for a moment, Humperdinck realized that he being the great hunter he is would have no problem beating whoever this girl thought could beat him, honestly he had no idea where she then got such a silly idea, "however will only accept, if you understand that this is a foolish wager, there is no way for whoever it is you think can win will be able to do so, and it would not be very gentlemen like of me for me to take advantage of a young lady's foolish thoughts." He said, more so that the other guests would not accuse him and him actually believing in such a thing.

"You do not worry about trying to take advantage of my foolish thoughts, and perfectly prepared to, so what is the phrase people using the sort of circumstance, oh yes, I believe it is "put your money where your mouth", know that I am ready to do just that." Belle said attempting to make them believe that she was truly naïve.

"Very well I accept wager, as foolish as it is." Humperdinck said, and then putting a hand for Belle to shake, she did, "Let the tournament begin at first morning's light."

* * *

**I hope you're enjoying the story, please review and tell me think. Also, I'm planning on doing more than just a couple chapters on Rumpelstiltskin helping Belle with unwanted suitors, I've already got some people in mind, but I'm wondering if anybody who knows more about fairytales and I do would be able to do give some suggestions about princes that I could use. The next chapter will be about the tournament between Rumpelstiltskin, I mean, um, uh, the mysterious hunter, and Humperdinck, I might also mention something about Queen Eva getting sick and Belle coming to comfort her and Snow White.**

**So please, read and review, tell me what you think, and suggest any future idiots who might attempt to win Belle's hand in marriage.**


	3. Chapter 3: The Tournament and Tragedy

******I own nothing, all rights go to Disney for the Disney characters, and all rights go to whoever else owns the other characters I've mentioned.**

* * *

**A big thank you to Sage of Earth for quite a few helpful suggestions about characters I might want to use. If anyone wants to help me, I'm sure there's at least one prince from some fairytale that I haven't thought of you might know, so please feel free to make some suggestions.**

**And if you want you can also review the story and tell me what it is I did wrong, or by some odd twist of fate, if I've done something right you can also comment on that.**

**P.S. sorry it took so long to update, I had camp so I tried to put a unfinished chap up but my computer crashed so I couldn't, the good news is camp cured the weird writers block I had were I couldn't get the story strait in my head so I could write it down. And I promise I will update my other story soon to.**

* * *

The day of the tournament was extremely exciting; there were stalls up everywhere, people from all over the lands gathered to see the two competitors, although they could've just been there because it was also Snow White's birthday in a few days. While it did take some convincing, King Leopold allowed Bellee to borrow seven of his falcons for the tournament, and had some of his soldiers help tie the ribbons on the bird's feet.

Prince Humperdinck was very excited; he and many of the other princesses that were there were laughing and talking about how silly the idea was that somebody could beat him. "Come, where is this mysterious Hunter, where is this worthy challenger?"

Belle was getting a little bit worried; she had not seen Rumpelstiltskin all morning, and it was 10 minutes until the tournament was supposed to start. She was just about to start calling out his name when an old man, who looked to be about 50, came hobbling up with a walking stick. He was crippled, slow, had brown hair with a bit of gray mixed in, and in what appeared to be a coat made of who knows how many different animals, all knitted in together so that they overlapped, like a very ugly rainbow colored quilt. "Here I am." He said.

The reaction was not exactly one that Belle was expecting; she thought everyone would instantly burst out laughing so hard that they would lose consciousness, all they did was stare at him for a full minute, then they started laughing. After two or three minutes and were finally able to become calm, "Who is this, is this your 'worthy challenger', this is a joke, a very funny one I'll admit, but a joke nonetheless. He's old and crippled, what in heaven's name made you think that he could possibly win this challenge."

"Sir," said the Hunter, "do you not think I'm a worthy challenge, or are you afraid that you might lose to an old crippled man."

Prince Humperdinck did not like that, like even less that the other princes were laughing at his expense. "Do you think you are a worthy challenge? Do you think you have the strength, speed, and cunning that is required for this challenge?"

"Yes I believe I do." Said the Hunter smiling. "Tell me, Princess Belle here has told me that you and her made a little wager; that if you win she must marry you as soon as possible, but if I win you must grant her three wishes no matter what they are."

"Yes it's true, what of it?" Prince Humperdinck asked.

"If I might be so bold as to add another part of the agreement." He said looking at Prince Humperdinck who looked confused. "What I mean is that we should add on another wager, that if I should win, you may never marry Princess Belle, but if you should win then I must eat the falcons that we kill raw." The Hunter said.

"And why would I make this wager?"

"Why wouldn't you, as you said I'm old and crippled. If you are so confident in your abilities then you shouldn't have a problem making this wager. After all if you are as good as you say you would really be risking nothing and would get a chance to humiliate the man who has caused the other princes to have so many laughs at your expense." The Hunter said pointing towards other princes who instantly attempted to stop laughing.

"Very well, I accept your wager as foolish as it is, I hope you enjoy the taste of raw falcon."

At that moment the trumpets blared and announcers stated that the tournament was about to begin. "Gentlemen here are the rules. You shall each wait 10 minutes for the falcons to fly and then shall begin hunting them. You have each been given the same type of bow and equal number of arrows; you may only use that bow and those arrows to hunt the Falcons. You have until the trumpet sounds twice at sundown or whenever one of you wins to hunt as many of your three as you can, and you may not attempt to capture the last falcon before you have killed your three, should you kill one of your opponents falcons you must bring it back here to the starting point and blow the trumpet wants to signal that you've killed one of your opponents falcons, then you may continue hunting. The last falcon must be captured with a cage that we have also given you, and brought in unharmed and alive. Do you understand the rules?"

"Yes." Both of them said.

"Good." The announcer said and with that he went over to the cages, opening the doors, the falcons flew out of the cage and up towards the very cloudy skies.

After watching the falcons a moment, Belle realized that the Hunter had come over to her. "Well Belle, what you think." The Hunter said in an unusual accent, it sounded foreign, and she couldn't place it, but she did like it, it seems more natural than the way he usually talked.

"Rumpelstiltskin you amaze me. Not only is that disguise perfect, you also made it so I won't have to use any of my wishes to not marry that fool. Thank you very much." And with that she hugged him in one of those ways that little kids due to their parents that make you worry that they might break your ribs.

"So this is your mysterious Hunter, well I'm only sorry that my husband isn't here to see this interesting tournament." Queen Eva said. It was only then that Belle realized that the Queen and Snow White was there with them, her father was also coming up behind them. After looking at him for a moment Belle realized that her father's cheeks were not only red from the alcohol he had been drinking but also from embarrassment and anger

"**How dare you! How dare you**. It is not your decision whether or not my daughter marries Prince Humperdinck or not. How dare you wager her marriage! Who in all the realms do you think you are?" The King said turning even more red from lack of breath.

"You're Majesty, it is a pleasure to meet you sir, Belle has told me a great deal about you. As to your remark about the wager we made, it was a test that Belle and I had come up with, one that Prince Humperdinck failed miserably."

"And what is that supposed to mean?" The King said rather shocked at what the Hunter had said.

"Belle had wanted to test the Prince to see whether or not he cared for her. The plan was simple, challenge his hunting skills, and see if he would be willing to bet his marriage to Belle in the hopes that he would be able to humiliate his opponent." And then pointing at the King the Hunter said in an extremely serious voice. "Tell me you're Majesty, are you going to have your daughter marry someone who is willing to bet the future of his entire kingdom and yours on a hunting match?"

"Well…. No, but, well, maybe he is showing intelligence, humiliating a man who would call his skills into question, knowing that it is extremely unlikely that a crippled Hunter could possibly beat him." The King said stumbling around for an answer to the Hunter's question. He looked rather happy at the answer he had given, smiling with pride, or too much ale.

Belle noticed that Rumpelstiltskin did not look happy at the remark about being crippled. And then she saw a mischievous gleam in his eyes that said he was about to enjoy wiping the smile off the face of her father "The thing you have to remember your Majesty is that, while the odds are not exactly in my favor, there's still a chance I could win." And with that the Hunter turned around, drew his bow, and shot an arrow straight towards a servant carrying a tray of fruit. After recovering from the shock of seeing the Hunter shoot the arrow, King Marcus looked up to see that the arrow had split and apple at the top of the pile of fruit right down the middle, without making it fall off the tray. When the King looked over at the Hunter, the Hunter raised his finger and pointed towards the table that was behind the servant, the arrow was stuck in the wall, between two of the stones. Not only that, but the arrow had managed to open a bottle of wine by hitting it right at the fracture between the main part of the bottle and the neck where the glass was just a little bit weaker.

The King was about to say something, but they heard the trumpet sound that signaled the beginning of the tournament, and so after bowing to the group, the Hunter left to retrieve his arrow and begin hunting Falcons. "I think there's a small chance that Prince Humperdinck might lose this challenge." Queen Ava said not able to hide the sarcasm in her voice or the slight smirk at how funny the dumbfounded King looked at that moment.

"I think you might be right." The King said looking downcast. "And I can't tell if I should jump for joy at the fact that my daughter will not be marrying Prince Humperdinck, or hope and pray that that was just a lucky shot."

* * *

As the tournament began, most of the onlookers went with Prince Humperdinck to watch him win the tournament. After all, no one in their right mind would believe that a crippled Hunter could possibly beat the young Princess at hunting. While Belle, her father, Snow White, and her mother, along with a few other nobles went with the Hunter to watch him.

The first thing the Hunter did was walk over to Belle and ask. "Belle, would you mind holding this for me." He said motioning to the cage. She nodded, and then handing it to her he said thank you and then went over to the Queen and asked. "Excuse me your Majesty, do you know who it is that watches over the falcons?"

After looking around for a moment the Queen pointed to a tall man with brown hair in a yellow jacket. "That man over there is the one that takes care of the falcons."

"Thank you your Majesty." And then walking over to the man he asked. "Excuse me sir, I was wondering if you could tell me what the favorite food of the falcons is? I was also wondering if you could tell me if there is some sort of special call that you use in order to make them come to you?"

"Why yes sir." The man said in a voice that sounded like he was talking out of his nose. "These falcons have a certain fondness for rabbit meat." And then holding up a whistle he said. "We use this whistle to help train them. If you blow it three times quickly," he said while demonstrating. "the falcons will come to you."

After taking a whistle and some rabbit meat from the man, the Hunter said thank you to him for his assistance, and then headed towards the forest. After walking a little way, King Marcus came up to the Hunter and said. "What was that? You are supposed to hunt the falcons, what you are doing is cheating."

"Really!" The Hunter said holding his hand up to his chest and opening his mouth and eyes as wide as he could to make it look like the King had offended him. "And just how is this cheating. The rules were that you were to hunt the falcons, bring back your three, and bring back the last one alive and unharmed. The rules said that you had to kill your three falcons before you could go and capture the last one. It did not say that you can't go and ask the person that trains the falcons what it is that would attract them. Now as a king you might not be aware of this, but hunters always gather information about what it is they are attempting to hunt. We don't just going to hunt something because we feel like it, which could be extremely dangerous. Like I doubt you would just run off and fight an enemy without first finding out the size of their army, the layout of land and whatever else it is you find out. The whole point of this tournament is to see who the best hunter is. At the moment I would say I am because I was smart enough to ask for the man's help."

Looking up at her father Belle said. "Dad, he's right." She said, and then looking to the other onlookers to see what their opinion was, they nodded in agreement.

"I'm afraid we all agree with the Hunter, King Marcus" said Queen Eva.

The King looked down at his daughter with a look of extreme surprise on his face, and whether it was from the fact that his daughter took the side of the Hunter, or that all the other onlookers also agreed with what the Hunter had said Belle wasn't sure. And then holding up his hands and feet he said. "Very well, I suppose I'm outnumbered in this."

"Yes you are." The Hunter said matter-of-factly. "Now well done talking, I have a tournament to win." And then walking over towards a small clearing, the Hunter put some of the rabbit meat on the ground and then took out the whistle and used it like the trainer had instructed. After waiting a few minutes the Hunter did this again, waited, blew it again, waited, blew it again, waited, and blew it again. And then finally we heard a falcon screech, and saw the seven Falcons fly down towards the rabbit meat and start eating. The Hunter walked around the Falcons for a few moments, and then finding that angle he was looking for said Annette on the ground, and then began drawing six arrows, he positioned them at different points along his bow, drew back, and fired. There was a sudden screech from falcons realizing they had been shot, six of them fell down dead, while the seventh one with the golden string attached its leg flew up in distress. The Hunter then grabbed the net and threw it at the falcon, causing the bird to become tangled and unable to fly effectively. He then pulled the bird over towards where Belle was standing, and then taking the cage from her put the bird in side. He then removed the net from around the bird, and placed the other six dead falcons inside of it. "Would someone mind helping an old cripple carry such a heavy load?" He said looking towards the onlookers. Then when no one would help him, Belle walked forward and grabbed part of the net. "So only a 13-year-old girl will help me." He said accusingly towards the men of the group.

After a few very uncomfortable moments some of the less important looking men walked towards the net and helped pick it up. "Thank you." Said Belle to the men who it managed to arrange the net so that one of them was carrying a corner of it. He then began walking back toward the Castle to announce the end of the tournament. "Why did you kill Humperdinck's falcons?" Belle asked the Hunter while they were walking.

"Yes, I was wondering as well." Said Queen Eva.

"So was I." Said both Snow White and King Marcus.

"A little bit of insult to injury my dear." Said the Hunter. "After all, what's the point of winning a tournament that no one thought you would if you can't rub it in a little bit? Besides the fact that Humperdinck now can't marry Belle, and has to grant her three wishes, he now has to admit the fact that I not only killed my falcons captured the last one, but I also killed his, and did it in under an hour."

The journey back to the castle was quiet and short, with no one really talking other than to congratulate the Hunter on his success. But Snow White had noticed that, not only was Belle very close to this mysterious Hunter, which was weird because she knew that Belle's father would not allow her to be friends with a crippled peasants. But then her father didn't really notice much because of how much she drank. And there was also something odd about him, the way he talked, the way he moved, he may have looked like a cripple, but she noticed that he didn't have trouble standing when he had to shoot the falcons and through the net to capture the last one. And then there was a kind of gleam and Belle's eye whenever she looked at him; it was something more than something for a simple acquaintance, although she was sure that it was not love. After all how could it be? The man looked old enough to be her father, possibly her grandfather. No, it definitely wasn't love. Right?

* * *

Prince Humperdinck was walking through the forest, his head held high, a bow in one hand, and the net and the other. Behind him came several young princes and Knights, all of them waiting to see him display his excellent hunting skills. There were also several young maidens walking with them, giggling and pointing like schoolgirls. _'I'm going to miss this when I'm married, it will be such a boring first year, only being able to bed one woman. After all how exciting can the young thing be, I might die of boredom within three months. Maybe I'll get lucky and she'll become pregnant quickly, then I can go and have three mistresses.'_ Prince Humperdinck was smiling at the idea, when suddenly he heard to trumpet blasts.

When they heard the noise everyone in the party looked around with the same look on their face of complete and utter shock. And then after a moment everyone looked each other and started moving quickly back towards the castle. _'No! No, there is no way that he possibly killed all three falcons and captured the last one. It hasn't been even in our yet. There is no way this is happening'_

In a few minutes they reach the Castle courtyard. Prince Humperdinck because he was leading the group into the forest, was one of the last ones out of the forest. When he saw not only the other Hunter's three falcons, and the seventh falcon, but also his own three falcons, he was stunned into complete and utter silence, with his mouth hanging open. After a few minutes of trying to regain control of his tongue he said. "Wh-, wha-, WHAT! How in all the realms do you manage to kill all six falcons and capture the last one? You cheated didn't you. It was all some sort of crazy plan to prevent me from marrying Belle wasn't it." The Prince said, yelling and turning redder and redder the whole time.

"Are you sure you're feeling all right. You appear to be quite exasperated." The Hunter said with a fake concern. "And as to thinking I cheated, I followed the rules, and did what any smart hunter would do. And because of this I won. Now if you don't mind, I have business to attend to elsewhere." The Hunter said and then turning around and bowing to the people who followed him he said. "Thank you all for your company, I hope you enjoyed watching the hunt, and thank you to those who helped me carry the falcons back to the Castle." And then turning to Belle he said. "I hope you enjoy the party, and can find a new fiancé to place this one without much trouble." He said bowing to Belle. The Hunter then went and took his walking stick and walked to the gate which exited the courtyard to the main road. And then turning back he yelled Snow White. "And have a wonderful 13th birthday Snow White."

* * *

After the end of the tournament, Prince Humperdinck decided to leave back to his homeland in order to avoid the embarrassment of losing to a cripple. So he said goodbye to Belle and hopes that she would not be too upset at him leaving. Belle said that she was sorry he had to leave so soon, but wished him the best, and hoped he could find happiness.

After dinner, Snow White and Belle went up to her room to talk. "So tell me Belle, how is it that you know that Hunter? It seems very unusual that you would be friends with a crippled hunter."

Belle looked up at her friend in astonishment. "And just how is that unusual? Is it wrong that I would be friends with a hunter crippled or not?"

"No. It's just I don't think your father would allow you to have a friend like that. That and you never mentioned him."

"Who said he was my friend? He could just be an acquaintance I happen to meet while I was in town."

"Yes I suppose that could be true. But you and he did seem awfully friendly, like you had known each other for years."

"Really, odd I hadn't noticed." Belle said attempting to sound as surprise at what she had heard as possible.

"Yes you did. So you still haven't answered my question how did you know him?"

"Well-." Belle was about to try and come up with a good lie when they heard a knock at the door.

Johanna, one of Snow White's favorite servants came in with a very disturbed face and said. "I'm so sorry to disturb you milady, but the Queen has suddenly fallen quite ill, the doctors are unsure whether or not she will survive it."

"What." Snow said in a very sad and shocked voice. She then ran up and hugged Johanna, crying into her apron.

"I'm so sorry." Johanna said patting her on the head.

"I am too. You should go to your mother Snow."

"Thank you." Snow said trying to wipe away her tears.

When they left Belle went to her room. And sitting on her bed was Rumpelstiltskin. "Oh dear, you poor thing. Losing your fiancé in a hunting match. Whoever heard of such a thing, I hope you're not too heartbroken over the way it turned out." He said with mock concern.

"I think I might be able to get over it." She said sounding sad. And then looking down her toes, Belle took a deep breath and looked back at the Rumpelstiltskin smiling. "Well. I think I'm over it."

"Good, excellent, I would hate for you to wallow in grief for too long."

"Me too. Now Rumpelstiltskin, I need your help. I suppose you've heard that Queen Eva has taken ill. And that she may not survive."

"Yes I did. And I'm assuming you want me to do something about it my dear."

"Yes I would."

"And what would I receive in exchange for my services."

"You can have me use one of my wishes I got from Prince Humperdinck for whatever you like."

"Considering I helped you get those wishes I'm not sure that's a very good deal. However I am feeling uncharacteristically generous today. Very well I accept."

"Wonderful." Belle said jumping for joy. She then ran up, jumped on her bed and gave Rumpelstiltskin a big hug.

"And what do I deserve this for?" He asked.

"For helping me get out of that marriage, and for helping my friend's mother."

* * *

It was the next day at lunch Rumpelstiltskin came to Belle to tell her the diagnosis of Snow White's mother. "I'm afraid Queen Ava has contracted a rare illness. I'm unsure if she was poisoned, got it by accident, or if it was a back-spell."

"What's a back-spell?" Belle asked him.

"A back-spell is a negative or positive energy that is generated when you use good or bad magic. The concept is very simple; you cast a bad spell to cause someone to have something bad happen, you must also cause someone else to have something good happen, that someone can be you. But the same thing applies for the use good magic; you cast the spell to have something good happened someone, in this case it is most likely it was to cure them from some sort of disease. Someone else, in this case Queen Eva, must contract some sort of disease. However I doubt this is the case because, being royalty she probably has a patron fairy godmother to protect her from such things."

"Okay, so can you help her?"

"The good news is yes I can, the bad news is the method required."

"What do you need to do?"

"There are certain points with magic is not enough, or something else is needed. This is why most diseases that have a magical cure, the cure isn't instant, while we'll get rid of the disease a person has to recover. The Queen is at a point where she is too close to death to simply be cured and be able to recover."

"So what does that mean?"

"It means then order to save her, you must sacrifice someone else. There are many magical objects and spells that are capable of doing this. Each requiring different things, or a different method of application, some requires a willing participant, and some don't."

It took Belle a moment to grasp his meaning. If they were going to save the Queen, someone else would have to die, and if no one was willing to do it, Rumpelstiltskin could always find someone and force them to do it. But Belle knew that, even though it would save her life, the Queen would never approve. "I don't think we can do that." Belle said.

"Do what, and with whom?" Snow asked as she walks through the door, looking slightly worse for wear.

"Oh nothing." Belle said to scrambling around for an answer.

"Oh come on and tell me." Snow said, hoping that whatever Belle was thinking about would be able to distract her from her mother's condition. When she saw her, she looked very weak and pail. Gone was that aura about her that made everyone wants to smile and forget all their worries. And all that remained was a depressing void.

"Oh I was just... um…. Trying…. To… Think of something to help your mother, and I thought… That..um… Maybe I could use one of my wishes from Prince Humperdinck, to see if he knew the will to help." Belle said, secretly praying that her friend would believe what she said.

"Yes. It's too bad that he left. Is there anything else you thought of?"

"Well." Belle thought for a moment, and then remembering what Rumpelstiltskin had said earlier and her birthday present, she said. "I read in a book, I'm not sure which one, that usually will families have a patron fairy godmother. And that this fairy godmother protects them from curses and other unfortunate things like that. I was just wondering that, maybe your mother has one. And maybe could ask her for help. I also have this." She said running over to her bag and retrieving her Press Book. "I got it as a birthday present; it's called a Press Book." She said handing it to Snow White.

"That's nice Belle, but it's just a blank book." She said the pages.

"Press your tiara against the cover with a small circle." Belle said smiling mischievously.

Snow White look slightly worried at her friend, wondering why she would ask her do something so crazy. But after walking over to the table with her tiara was in a box, she removed it and pressing against the cover she was told to. And then opening up the book she gasped. Suddenly the pages were full of information all about her tiara; how old it was, how many generations have worn it, how much silver was in it, how many diamonds their work units, how much it weighed. "Now this is amazing!" Snow said with her mouth hanging open.

"If you press one of your mother's hairs on that cover, it will full proposals information about her, including what kind of illness she has." Belle said smiling gleefully.

"And that could help them figure out what's wrong with her. Oh Belle, you're a genius." Snow said running up to her friend in giving her a hug that nearly broke all of her ribs. "I'll give this to the doctor right now, and I'll ask my mommy she's a patron fairy godmother. You know how much this means to me. I don't think I'll ever be able to repay you."

"If your mother gets better, that's all I care about. Now get to them quickly, but make sure that they give it back when they're done, it's the only one I have." Belle said only half jokingly.

"I will, and thank you." Snow White said running out the door since she could.

When they could no longer hear Snow White's footsteps running down the hall, Belle turned Rumpelstiltskin asked. "They're not going to build to help her, are they?"

"No they won't." Rumpelstiltskin said, feeling quite sad that Belle was going to lose another mother. "No fairy would be able to provide the necessary spell, considering it requires a life force transfer. They can certainly try, but the Queen is just too far gone." It was then that Belle's ability to put on a strong face failed, and she ran to Rumpelstiltskin, hugging him for dear life. After recovering from the initial shock of someone was running to him for comfort, Rumpelstiltskin stroked Belles hair comfortingly and said. "I'm sorry Belle. I know you want to save her, but there's nothing I can do. I wish I could tell you that it will all get better, and that you will be able to recover from this completely. And will be easy for you. But it won't be. The only two people who were probably suffering worse than you are the King Leopold and Snow White. But just like they will have each other to help them get through this, know that you will have me with you, and I'll help you get through this.

After standing there for a few minutes, just stroking Belles hair, whatever strength I was keeping Belle going failed, and she collapsed to the ground exhausted. And so picking her up, Rumpelstiltskin teleported Belle back to her room. When they got there he magically got her night gown on and put her to bed. As Rumpelstiltskin began to walk away Belle said. "Wait.". And then looking up at him, Belle sleepily said. "Thank you."

Rumpelstiltskin turned around to look at her; he was suddenly struck with all the memories of the nights when he would wake up to hear his own son crying. He remembered how his wife would never really do anything with him or Bae. How she would look at her husband with nothing but discussed and something akin to hatred. And how, while he would always get up to make sure that he was all right, she never would. _'She's just a year younger than my Bea was when I became the Dark One. She's not even two years younger than the age he was when I lost him.'_ He thought remembering the good times he had with his son. _'I wonder if Bea remembers anything of his mother, I hope he didn't miss her as much as she misses her mother, and will now miss Snow White's.'_ Maybe when I find him one day, they can be friends.

* * *

Snow White's birthday party was cut short by her mother's funeral. No one really wanted to celebrate considering the circumstances.

The drive back to their kingdom was long and silent, with no one really wanting to say anything because they couldn't think of anything happy. It was during this long and silent ride that King Marcus looked at his daughter and thought. _'I must find her a husband and some friends. And I need to do this quickly. It's not healthy for her to not have any friends other than Snow White. And maybe the joy of having friends and a pending engagement will help with her mood during this unhappy time.'_ And then thinking for a moment, he thought of the perfect candidate. _'I've got it, he would be perfect. Rich, powerful, and considering how beautiful my daughter is, she shouldn't have any trouble when he came over. And I'm sure he would make her happy after all who is like an Emperor.'_ The King thought smiling to himself.

And so Belle and her father journeyed home, in silence. With Belle never noticing the slight smile on her father's face.

* * *

**So who can guess who the new suitor is? It won't be too hard. If you want another hint, I'm pretty sure if you look up the word self-centered in the dictionary, you would see his picture, and the caption would read. "His one and only character trait".**

**P.S. Sage of Earth cannot guess because she's the one that gave me the idea.**


	4. Chapter 4: Lama Trouble

**Ok, so sorry about not posting sooner, I got almost done, reread it, and found I hated the second half, twice, but now it's here, so enjoy.**

**Thank you to ****NicoleMuenchSeidel and Ryunn Kazan, for the wonderful reviews.**

**And on that note, no one tried to guess Belle's suitor for this chapter, come one guys, if I ask you to guess, can at least one of the 131 or so people who read chapter three please try and guess.**

* * *

"Kuzco, Emperor Kuzco." Rumpelstiltskin couldn't hold it in anymore and just started laughing. Between fits of laughter he said, "For a…second…I thought…you wer…were in t…trouble."  
Belle did not see the humor in this, and so did the logical thing any girl would do, she hit him with a pillow to emphasize each word. "This. Is. Not. Funny…The. Mans. IS. An. Idiot."

After getting hold of his senses, with the pillow's help, he finally managed to talk. "I'm sorry Belle, but from the way you were acting, pacing back and forth, bighting your lip, looking like the world was going to end, I thought you were in trouble."

"I am in trouble, I'm going to be sent off to marry an Emperor who lives on the other side of the world, who is the most self centered men on the planet."

"I wouldn't say the most…"

"I heard he has a planetarium with his head in the center."

"And that's true, but it's only a forth of the way around the world, or three froths the long way.

"It's still really far away, I'll miss my family, friends, you."

"Little Dearie; One, I can go anywhere I want at any time, so you won't need to worry about me. Two, I can cut travel time down a lot if you miss Snow White. And three, to my knowledge, in the last three years that his advisers have been looking, the average time it takes him to dismiss them all is ten seconds, he goes "Ew, no, no, sorry, and let me guess, you have a great personality,". So I don't think your father really wants you to marry him," he knew that was probably a lie, and that her idiot father probably thought that that moron of an Emperor could make Belle happy. "I think it's just a quick trip to a new and exotic location to help lift your spirits after what happened with your last betrothal, but there is a very small chance of marriage, so it's a good excuse to let you go. And then you can come back and look at real options."

"Still…."

"Still what, you're worried about something, what is it?"

"I guess," She sat down on her bed next to him with a frump. "I guess I just thought he would wait more than a week to spring another engagement on me."

"Like I said, he proudly thinks nothing will come from it, and if it does, it a rare opportunity for an Emperor to say anyone can attempt to court him."

"I know, it just seems so soon."

"Let me tell you something, courts are very fussy, they think that if you are 21, instead of being in the prime of life, you're an old maid. You, I'm sorry to say, are a baby maker, not much more, and so your father wants to find you a husband, so you can have lots of kids. Although the reason why four to five years makes the difference between you being a young women or an old maid is beyond me, personally, I find woman closer to 25 - 30 are better for making children then a 16 year old, stronger body and all that."

"So what are we going to do?"

"Well, unlike the last one, Kuzco should be relatively simple. He is obsessed with perfection, perfect castle, wife, everything. He is also very superficial; he only will care about looks. Now while you are quite beautiful, anything imperfect will make him run. So if I gave you a blemish on your face, a mole, scar, anything really, he will not want you." Rumpel said, while dancing around the room, almost missing the blush on Belle. "Is something the matter?"

Belle wasn't sure why, but something about him saying she was beautiful meant more to her then when others said it, like he really meant it. "What, oh, nothing. It's just…"

"Yes?"

"But what if someone notices I suddenly have a blemish that wasn't there before?"

"I can make it so only he can see it."

"But what if..."

"Dearie, if I didn't know any better, I'd almost think you believe I might fail or something." He then put his hand on his chest in fake hurt. "Really, have you so little faith in me."

"No."

"Good, now, there is that age old subject of payment. I believe me last deal still stands."

Belle had to think for a moment to remember what deal that was, when she did, she became nervous. _'What do you think of me? And why did you kiss me? Oh and you have to be completely honest when you answer me.'_ She hadn't know what to say then and was still unsure how to answer, of course Rum was her friend, but why would she kiss him, even if it was just on the cheek, it was still a very intimate gesture, one only shared between family. Did she think of Rum as family, of more than that? She could still remember one time after her mom had died, she had been crying and her dad hadn't comforted her, still grieving in his own way, with large amounts of alcohol.

* * *

_It had been a bad day for Belle, the first anniversary of her mother's death. Her father had spent the day locked in his study; a servant had brought in a keg of mead in for him a half hour later. But other than the servant that had lost the dice roll, and there for was forced to check on him occasionally, no one was aloud in the room._

_Belle had been sad to, everything reminded her of her mom somehow, and there was nowhere to go where she wasn't assaulted by painful memories, the library, where her mom and her had spent hours reading, her room, where her mom brushed her hair. The color black or white, or a lily, reminded her of a funeral. The way smells of flowers reminded her of the perfume her mom let her try once. Everything was painful, so she did the best, most logical thing she could, she cried her eyes out._

_After crying for a minute, or an hour, she wasn't sure, she felt someone stroking her hair. "There, there Belle, don't cry. Why is my brave little Belle crying, and on such a nice day, there is no reason to cry, is there?"_

"_Mama died today." She said in a very sad and pathetic way, but also very cute._

"_Now why does that make you sad?"_

"_Because I miss her."_

"_Ah, the age old question. You know, I once loved three different people. One didn't love me, she said so herself many times. The second loved me greatly, but I lost him. And the third was an evil witch, who also didn't love me. Now, do you know what I learned from all three?"_

"_What?"_

_Rumpel scrunch up his nose, got in real close and said. "You don't know what you got tell it's gone. That's the thing about love dearie, it can slip through your fingers easier than water, can be gone faster than a lightning strike, and most people are guilty of wasting it." He then moved back. "The thing you must not focus on is what could have been, you must focus on what was. Focus on the good memories, focus on what you had, and remember the good time. Remember, that the past is the past, nothing can change it, but you can use it to tell you of the future."_

"_And what does your past tell you?"_

_He then became completely serious "That there is only one thing I can ever truly love, and until I find it again, I must be careful not to love anything else. Because any time I have loved anything, I've lost not only what I thought I loved because it didn't love me, but I lost another part of my heart, and more importantly, sight of my ultimate goal."_

* * *

'_Is that what he's worried about, love? Of course she loved him, but in what way, she loved her people, her family, her friends, and hoped one day to have true love. But what category was Rumpel in. And what did she say so she didn't lose him.'_

"I sorry, but I still don't know myself, I think I was just overly grateful for your friendship, I'm so sorry if it made you uncomfortable."

She was being honest; his Belle was the world's worst liar, maybe even worse than that. "No, it's all right, it was just shocking, that's all. Last time I was kissed was before your parents met, maybe even your grandparents." He joked, at least about the grandparent part.

* * *

The trip to Kuztopya, was everything named after the Emperor, was long, hot and boring, Belle was glad that Rumpel put a cooling spell on her, who whore 12 layers in this weather, the urge to take everything but her underwear off was extreme otherwise, but three layers of thin cotton seemed like too much even then, and her maids would probably faint if she did. _'They only have on three layers of light clothing, why do I have to where all this in this weather.'_ Although she did feel a little stupid for complaining when Rumpel took care of her, but the stupidity of her clothing was no less true.

The real tortured though, was the long bumpy road, after 3 days of rather interesting scenery change, they got on a boat. The ocean was pretty, but it lost its appeal after a minor storm, and really, what was so nice about a big expanse of water as far as the eye could see, there was nothing to see, and she had run out of books.

But the road there was the worst, no new books the whole time, even though she saw a book store, or kuzcroll store, no one would let her go in for a minute, and then it was a 4 day trip to the palace, with nothing to do but count how long they could go without being jostled by a big rock, 23 seconds was the record. _'I'm getting Rum to take us back, if I have to spend a month cleaning his castle to make it so no one asks why were back so soon, I'll do it whistling.'_

But they got there, a bit worse for wear, and Belle was told that she would get to meet the Emperor in three days. "I hate this trip more and more Rum. If dad thought that this was a way to help me forget Humperdinck, he did, I can barely remember anything from all the bruises."

"Maybe he's trying to remove your spirit of adventure; I'm tempted to not leave my home for a month just looking at you. How they think you can survive with that much on, and travel on such bad roads without 12 mattresses to help you with all that bouncing is beyond me."

"I think I broke the seat after a really big one."

"I'm sure you did. But there is a bright side."

"Really, because right now the only bright thing I see are the places where the bruises are only bright red, and not some other color."

"The bright side is you have 3 days to explore a town with some very large book stores, and I have a bag that has three spools of gold thread worth of coins in it, and nothing better to do with them then use it on you."

And so, for the next three days, Belle went and bought every book she could find. She bought so many, that Rumpel had to get more coins. By the time it was her day to go before the Emperor, Rumpl was sure there were no books, scrolls, pamphlets, or any paper really left in a 20 mile radius of the palace, 'that's what I get for offering to teleport all the stuff back'. Belle however was bursting with happiness, so it was worth it. "THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU." Belle said squeezing the life out of him in a bear hug.

"You're welcome; you can repay me by letting go." Which she did after a minuet more, "I hope I've managed to make it so the trip wasn't too painful."

"If you teleport us back home, I think I'll be fine."

"I suppose, I could be persuaded to help. But are you sure you don't want to go back via a long uncomfortable carriage ride, and a bumpy boat ride."

"NO."

"A well, I suppose a bit of help getting back is reasonable. But first we have to keep you from getting engaged." He said, standing her up. "Now for your attire, a simple mole on your forehead, like such." He then waved his hand. "And you won't have to worry about getting married."

"Good."

"Now if you need me, I'll be busy with a deal, so you can tell me afterwards how it went." And with that, Rumpel disappeared in a puff of smoke.

* * *

Waiting for the Emperor was very boring, so Belle decided to sit down and read a scroll while waiting. It was very peaceful, until they heard someone singing.

There are despots and dictators  
Political manipulators  
There are bluebloods with the intellect of fleas  
There are kings and petty tyrants  
Who are so lacking in refinements  
They'd be better suited swinging from the trees  
He was born and raised to rule  
No one has ever been this cool  
In a thousand years of aristocracy  
An enigma and a mystery  
The quintessence of perfection that is he

'_And not very humble'_ Belle thought.

He's the sovereign lord of the nation  
He's the hippest cat in creation  
He's the alpha, the omega, a to z  
And his perfect world will spin  
Around his every little whim  
'Cause his perfect world begins and ends with Kuzco

What's his name? Kuzco...That's his name... Kuzco... He's the king of the world! Kuzco... Is he hip or what? Kuzco... Yeah!

It was a great relief when the music stopped; there was only so much praise Belle could take in the course of one minute. She was about to start reading again when she head.

What's his name? Kuzco! Kuzco... That's his name! Is he hip or what? Don't you know he's the king of the world? Whoa, yeah! Oww! Kuzcoooooooo...

**!BOOM BABY!**

"Aah, your Highness! It is time for you to choose your bride!" Said a short man, he then directed Kuzco over to were Belle and the other girls were waiting.

"Allrighty! Trot out the ladies! Let's take a look-see. Hate your hair, not likely, yikes, yikes yikes, and let me guess, you have a great personality. Is this really the best you could do?" Was all Kuzco said to them and the little man.

"Oh yes! Oh, no! I mean, perhaps!" Belle was starting to pity the man. Having to find girls for Kuzco to reject every day must get boring sooner or later.

Belle was more then happy to leave, she came, she got to explore, got a lot of new reading material, all in all it had been a great trip, at least once she got here. When she got back to her room, Rumpel was nowhere to be seen, but there was a glass of wine on the table. "Rum, you are a life saver." She said to no one, and then took the glass and drank happily. Then everything went black.

* * *

Rumpelstiltskin had had a good trip; he had sent the ingredients to Yzma a month ago, and had just gotten the latest shipment of potions.

Yzma was by far one of his best clients, he provided goods to make her potions, and she got to keep a few of each batch. It was always amassing how many different types of transformation potions she could make, he remembered once she made a giant tooth potion, along with a few other very unusual one's, like body swapper, or a reverse potion.

He had gotten done early and was waiting for Belle, when he had heard the most annoying singing, someone was praising the Emperor like he was a king of gods, or king of the world at least. _'They need to get out more, see the rest of the world'_, but after a minuet the song ended, _'what a relief'_ he thought. And then the singing started again, and so he just gave up, went out to the balcony, and cast a spell so he couldn't hear anything, 'it's a good thing Belle got such a nice room, anymore of that and I might have killed the Emperor to stop it,' he then laughed, or I could use I could use one of Yzma's potions and turn him into a lama.'

And so he just stood there, imagining the life the ruler of the land would lead, how funny it would be to see him eat grass and how he would probably get eaten by panthers or alligators. 'Or maybe he'd make a squirrel angry, and it would try to do him in.' Now that would be funny.

When ten minutes had passed, he figured it might be safe to go back in, and if they were still singing, he was defiantly going to turn Kuzco into a lama. But when he got back in, there was no singing, just a light purr.

'_A light PURR!'_ his brain was yelling at him, trying to get the point across that something wasn't right, and that something was a very confused looking brown cat. _'How in all the realms did that get in here'_ then the cat started mowing, and trying to stand on its head or somthing, "You think your adorable doing that, don't you."

It was only then that the cat noticed him, and it looked scared, and then started mowing franticly, "Smart cat at least, begging for its life. Personally I've always been more of a dog person, although puss in boots was always a fun drinking partner, odd girl, but the stories she told dunk could rival most of mine." _'Are you really talking to a cat?' 'Who asked you? And yes, that is perfectly normal behavior talking to an animal.', 'for a crazy person.', 'I'm having an argument with myself, and I'm the Dark One, of course I'm crazy. And will someone shut that cat up.'_

It was then that he realized that the cat had kept meowing, going high then low, like it was testing its voice for the first time. "If you aren't carful cat, were going to have to test to see if cats really do have nine lives." He threatened, and the cat's reaction was unexpected.

"Rum, don't, please." It took him a minute to realize that, the words he had just heard had come from, well, the cat.

"Belle?" He then looked over at the table and saw the tipped over wine glass. And then he remembered he was going to test the one of the newer potions of Yzma's, the cat potion. "Oh my dear little Belle," He then knelt down and pated the cat, Belle, he meant Belle, on the head and skracthed behind her ear. "what am I going to do with you. I leave for ten minutes and you become a cat." He then picked her up and went over to where the other potions were. "I hope you realize what would happen to my reputation if someone saw me holding a cat. Cora would never let me hear the end of it." He said as he looked for the human potion, but the one he found would turn Belle in to a guy, _'that mental image is horrifying.'_ And sadly Yzma was not very good at labeling her potions. "Well, it looks like its trial and error Belle."

And so he began giving Belle a small amount of each potion, and made sure to label each one clearly. Lion, tiger, bear, oh my. lizard, frog, spider, bunny, lama, oh the irony. "Rum, I don't think this is working." Said the lama Belle. "Won't the potion just where off, or maybe the person that made them have one that could help."

"Yzma could help, but she is a little bit crazy, and I have nothing to trade her for another potion." He said, but when he saw how sad she looked, he thought he thought of something. "We could see if her assistant Kronk would be willing to help, but the man, while well meaning, has the intelligence of a post."

"Well, I don't think he could make it much worse than it is." And all he heard was 'famous last words'.

* * *

And so Rumpelstiltskin and Belle went and looked for Kronk, when they found him, he was preparing dinner. "Hello Kronk."

"Hellow Rumpe… Um, are you aware there's a lama following you?"

"Yes, she's a friend, she drank this," Rumpelstiltskin said putting the lama potion on the table. "And I was wondering if you know if Yzma has a potion that will make her a girl again, all I have is a man potion."

"Rrriigghht, well, I think she might have one, but I don't know, all I have is a vial of poison." Kronk said setting a vial from his pocket on the table.

"And why do you have that?" Belle asked.

"Oh, uh, no reason, certainly not for poisoning Kuzco because he fired Yzma. Oh." Kronk said, realizing he said too much. "Um, you guys won't mention this, will you?"

"I'm a girl." Said Belle.

"It's an exspretion." Kronk defended.

"How about a deal then Kronk, something to ensure we both get what we want. I let you carry on your plan, if you go, right now, and get that potion, the young lady has to leave soon." Rumpelstiltskin said and his own flashy, over-the-top way.

"DEAL." And then Kronk ran out of the kitchen.

Now, Belle had to admit that Kuczo was not the best Emperor in the world, but he didn't deserve to be poisoned. But on the other hand, or hove, he was not the nicest fellow, and was very selfish, she remembered one of the guards saying he had throne an old man out a window for interrupting his dancing to that song earlier. So Belle knew what she should do. "Rum, could you go and get me a glass of wine, for when the potion gets here."

"Belle you don't need to worry, her potions are always flavorless."

"Well, if it all the same, please, it would help me feel better after such a weird day."

"Alright dearie, if you really need it." And he went to go fill a glass of wine, and while his back was turned, Belle switched the positions of the poison and the lama potion. "Here you go."

"Don't forget your potion Rum." Belle said pointing to the poison.

"Yes, thank you." He said pocketing the vial. And then Kronk came back.

"Ok, here it is." He said holding up a vial, he then put the countenance into the glass of wine. "Drink this and you'll be human again."

"Aaah...human again. Well, wish me luck." Belle said, about to drink the potion.

"Wait!" Rumpelstiltskin yelled. "Why don't you drink this back in your room."

"Oh, ok, well, good luck Kronk."

"You to madam." Kronk said, more focused on the food he was making.

"Don't forget to put the poison away." Belle said.

"Oh, thanks." He said, quickly pocketing the lama potion.

* * *

When Rumpelstiltskin teleported them back to her room, Belle finaly got to drink the wine that would help her. "Well, wish me luck, again." And so she closed her eyes, tilted her head back, and drank. And after drinking the potion, Belle felt much better, more like herself, but very cold.

"Um Belle." She heard Rum say, but he sounded like he was trying not to laugh.

"What is it, is something wrong?!" She said, afraid to open her eyes.

"Well, depends on your point of view. By the way, you never told me you had a birth mark."

Belle had to think for a moment, she had a fecal on her neck, and one on her arm, and a mole between her…

Her eyes flew open, she had a mole between her breasts, and she now knew why she was cold, she was naked. "Rum, you… you…" She didn't even bother finishing the sentace as she ran around trying to find some clothes. "You know a gentleman would look away."

"Well then it a good thing I'm not a gentleman." He said, and then with a wave of his hand, some clothes appeared. "I guess the cat potion was more experimental then she said, normally you get your clothing back."

"Yah, thanks for the warning." She said throwing a pillow at him.

"Think of it like this dearie, if I hadn't told you to wait to drink the potion up here, you'd have been naked in front of Kronk to. So really you should thank me."

"Really, and just why did you want me to come up here, did you know this would happen."

"No, I just figured the less Kronk knew about our connection the better, he's not the best at keeping his mouth shut."

"Sure, so what do we do now, I for one do not want to go husband hunting again for at least a month, or five."

"Sadly I can't make your father do anything, but I could cause a minor disease outbreak to keep him busy."

"If no one dies or hurt badly, I fine with that."

"Oh, no need to worry, I'll have it be something like an outbreak of red spots on their body, no one will die, or even have much more than an annoying cough."

* * *

And so Belle returned to her kingdom, and a week later reports of an outbreak of a sickness causing red spots began coming to the castle.

King Marcus, however, decided that after two weeks of the sickness that the kingdom needed help, and it just so happened that one of Belle's marriage contracts was from a doctor.

'Nice man, smart, a doctor, and a brilliant war strategist, and he's in need of gold to fix his kingdom. The marriage has advantages to both sides, young, handsome, and his contract had few requirements. It's perfect, I'll have a man sent there to tell him of Belles arrival, and she'll be there in less than a fortnight. Count Belle Lecter, what a lovely name.

* * *

**Once again try and guess who it is Belle is off to woo (or un-woo) to be (or not to be) her husband (Look at chap one for a clue, (no I can't be any more obvious as to who it is without saying his name (although I did say part of it and the title) so don't ask for more clues) so go back and look there for details as to who it could be.)**

**You read it up to here, what are you thinking, why not review and tell me.**

**So please review.**


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